Europe

Sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe
​ The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the  various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty sovereign states are listed with territory in  Europe and/or membership in international European organisations, six states with limited or no recognition and eight areas that are not integral parts of a European state or have special political status.

[edit] Definition of Europe
Main article: EuropeFurther information: Borders of the continentsThe division between Asia and Europe is debated but under the commonly used definition, the border stretches along the Ural Mountains,[1] Ural River, and Caspian Sea in the east,[2] the Caucasus Mountains[3] and the Black Sea, with its outlets, the Bosporus andDardanelles, in the south.[4] [5] [5] Based on that division, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey have territory both in Europe and Asia.

The island of Cyprus in Southwest Asia is approximate to Anatolia (or Asia Minor) and is on the Anatolian Plate [6] but is often considered part of Europe as a current member of the European Union (EU). Armenia is entirely in Southwest Asia but is a member of certain European organisations.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1em;">[7]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Although the Mediterranean Sea provides a clearer divide between Africa and Europe, some traditionally European islands such as Sicilyand Malta are located on the African continental plate.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1em;">[8] The island of Iceland is part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, straddling the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1em;">[9]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Some territories geographically outside Europe have strong connections with European states. Greenland has sociopolitical connections with Europe and is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but is grouped with the continent of North America.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1em;">[10]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Other territories are part of European countries but are geographically located in other continents, such as the French overseas departments,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1em;">[11] the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the coast of Africa,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1em;">[12] and the Dutch Caribbean territories of Bonaire, Sabaand Sint Eustatius.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Netherlands_12-0" style="line-height:1em;">[13]

[edit] Sovereign States
<p style="line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">A sovereign state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a population for whom it makes decisions in the national interest.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1em;">[14] According to the Montevideo convention, a state must have a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;">[15]

[edit] Recognised states
<p style="line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">There are 50 internationally recognised sovereign states with territory located within the common definition of Europe and/or membership in international European organisations, of which 44 have their capital city within Europe. All except the Vatican City are members of theUnited Nations (UN),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1em;">[16] and all except Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City are members of the Council of Europe.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1em;">[17] Since 2007, 27 of these countries are also member states of the EU, which means they are highly integrated with each other and share their sovereignty withEU institutions.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Each entry in the list below has a map of its location in Europe. Territory in Europe is shown in dark-green; territory not geographically in Europe is shown in a lighter shade of green. The lightest shade of green represents states in the EU and is shown on the maps of all territories within the EU.

[edit] Partially recognised states
<p style="line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The following six entities in Europe have partial diplomatic recognition by one or more UN member states (and therefore are defined as states by the constitutive theory of statehood) or have no diplomatic recognition by any UN member state but are defined as states by thedeclarative theory of statehood and are recognised by one or more Non-UN member states. None are members of the UN, Council of Europe or EU.

[edit] Dependent territories
<p style="line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The following six European entities are dependent territories

[edit] Special areas of internal sovereignty
<p style="line-height:18px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The following places are considered integral parts of their controlling state, but have a political arrangement which was decided through an international agreement.